Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 2).djvu/580

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FREY
FRIAS

ton, S. C., in 1813, after completing his education, went to South Carolina, where he was elected sec- retary of state. About 1795 he became part pro- prietor of the Charleston " Gazette," which journal he edited with singular ability and fairness till 1810, when he sold out his interest. He then leased a saw-mill and cottage at Pinckney's Ferry, and died of malaria contracted there.


FREY, Joseph Samuel Christian Frederick, clergyman, b. in Mayn-Stockheim, Franconia, (Ger- many, in 177B ; d. in Pontiac, Mich., 5 June, ly.jO. His father, Samuel Levi, was a Jewish teacher, and expounder of rabbinical law. His mother supported the family by keeping a small shop. At six years of age he read the five books of Moses in the origi- nal, and was daily instructed by a private tutor in the Jewish la wand Talmud, every opportunity being used to inspire him with a hatred of Christianity. At the age of nine the study of Mischna and Ge- niara, digests of Jewish traditions, were added to his theological text-books. On attaining early manhood he removed to Hesse and taught Hebrew children, as private tutor. At twenty-one he be- came a leader in the synagogue, read the prayers and law, and spent a whole year in learning the Jewish method of killing fowls, or beasts. About this period, while journeying from Hamburg to Schwerin, in the hope of obtaining at the latter town a more lucrative office, he met a Christian, who suggested to him novel ideas regarding the Messiah. He was impressed with the doctrines of the new religion, and, after three or four years of mental struggle, adopted them as his own. In May, 1798, he was baptized and received into the Protestant communion. In 1799 he entered the theological seminary established in Saxony by Baron von Schiernding for the education of mis- sionaries, studied there for one year, and then went to London, with the intention of going to Africa as a missionary. He afterward changed his pur- pose and decided to remain in England and be- come an evangelist to his own people, flis family, on learning his apostasy, enacted all the cere- monies which would have been performed at his death. For the next seven years he labored in connection with the London missionary society, travelling through the United Kingdom, preach- ing to whatever Jewish congregations he could muster, suffering much obloquy and privation and meeting with little encouragement. In 1816 he re- moved with his family to New York, established the Mulberry street Congregationalist church, and was ordained its pastor in 1818. In 1820 he founded the American society for meliorating the condition of the Jews. The object of this association was to establish an asylum for Christian Hebrews from all parts of the world. The enterprise proved a failure, and occupied several years of fruitless labor. In 1827, Mr. Frey, convinced of the necessity of immersion, left the Congregationalist church and became a Baptist. He held several small charges as a member of that denomination, and in 1887 resigned his pastorate to go to Europe as an agent for the American society for the conversion of the Jews. He remained abroad three years, but the mission was not favorably received. He returned to New York, lectured weekly in the South Baptist church to such Jews as he could induce to form his congregation, went on missionary journeys through the southern and southwestern states, and finally settled in Pontiac, Mich., where he taught Hebrew in the preparatory department of the State university. His published works are " Narrative of my Life" (New York, 1809) ; " Hebrew Bible " (1811); "Hebi'ew Grammar" (1813-28); " Judah and Is- rael " (1837) ; " Lectures of Scripture Types " (1841) ; and "Report of the Agency in Europe " (1842).


FREZIER, Amédée François (fray-zee-ay), French militarv engineer, b. in Chambery, France, in 1682 ; d. in" Brest, 26 Oct., 1778. He was the son of a Scotch refugee who had fled to Savoy. Amedee was educated in Paris, and served as lieu- tenant of infantry from 1702 till 1707, when he en- tered the engineer corps. In 1712 the government sent him to examine the condition of the Spanish colonies in America. After visiting the principal points in Peru, Chili, and Brazil, he returned to Marseilles on 17 Aug. He pointed out several mis- takes in the " Relation " of Father Feuillee, and this led to a bitter controversy between the two travel- lers. Frezier introduced the large Chili strawberry into France. In 1719 he was stationed at Santo Do- mingo as engineer-in-chief, and made a map of the island, to which he added a plan of the city of San- to Domingo. On his return, in 1728, he received the cross of St. Louis. He was appointed director of the fortifications of Brittany in 1789, and engaged in this work until 1764, when he was retired as a lieutenant-colonel. In 1752 he was elected a member of the French academy. He published many scientific papers, and several works, including " Relation du voyage de la Mer du Sud, aux cotes du Chili, et du Perou, fait pendent les annees, 1712, 1713, et 1714 " (Paris, 1714 ; 2d ed., enlarged, 1732 ; Dutch translation, Amsterdam, 1718 ; German translation, Hamburg, 1718; English translation, with a supplement by Edmund Halley, London, 1718). His "Réponse au P. Feuillee " was added to the Paris edition of 1882. He also published a " Lettre concernant I'histoire des trembiements de terre de Lima " (1755).


FRIAS, Felix (free'-as), Argentine publicist, b. in Buenos Ayres in 1820; d. in Paris in 1881. Early in life he became an opponent of the dicta- tor Rosas, and in 1888 was obliged to seek refuge in Montevideo. There he became acquainted with Gen. Laval le. and accompanied him in 1839, as secretary, on his invasion of the Argentine Repub- lic. When Lavalle was assassinated on 9 Oct., young Frias rescued his remains and carried them to Bolivia at great risk. He then engaged in literature in Chili, continued his opposition to Rosas, and after the overthrow of the dictator in the battle of Monte Caseros, 3 Feb., 1852, returned to his native country, where he became editor-in- chief of " El Orden." He was afterward minis- ter to Chili, during the protracted discussion of the boundary question between the two countries, served several times as deputy to the National congress, and once as its president. Frias dreamed of an intimate alliance between the church and liberty, and his opinions savored of asceticism. During the serious conflicts at Buenos Ayres, caused by the presidential elections of 1880, he made sti'cnuous exeiiions to avert civil war, and after the attainment of his object retired to Eu- rope to recruit his health. Among his historical works a^e " La gloria del Tirano Rosas."


FRIAS, Francisco, Count of Pozos Duices, Cuban author, b. in Havana m September, 1809; d. in Paris in 1877. He was sent to Baltimore, Md., to be educated, and in 1829 he returned to Cuba and pursued agricultural studies. In 1842 he went to Paris and remained there several years, devoting his time to mechanics, physics, and chemistry. In 1848 he returned to Cuba, and in the next year the Havana lyceum awarded him a first prize for his "Memoria sobre la Industria Pecuaria." The governor of Havana imprisoned him for six months in Morro Castle in 1858, on account of his anti-slavery